


Home Is Where the Heart Is

by TheCaillic



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Family, Family Fluff, Pregnancy, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-18
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:14:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23205295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCaillic/pseuds/TheCaillic
Summary: Welcome to the story of the Gainsborough/Strife Family. Follow along with various points in their lives and watch as they progressively drive each other insane.
Relationships: Aerith/Cloud (Kingdom Hearts)
Kudos: 22





	1. Pregnancy, The First One at Least

Aerith bounced nervously from foot to foot. She was buzzing with energy and she couldn’t do anything about it until Cloud arrived. She loved her boyfriend, but his time management skills were kinda complete garbage. He was a hard worker for sure, but sometimes he would lose track of time, especially while out on a job. Aerith didn’t mind for the most part. At worst this quality was only a minor inconvenience for her. But in this particular situation she had really good news and wanted to share it as soon as possible. She started fiddling with the necklace Cloud had given her for their first anniversary.

Lucky, just as she started to really worry, he finally arrived. Once he saw her, Cloud started to excitedly wave from his bike and jumped off to make his way over to her.

“Hello Love.” he said while wrapping his arms around her. For the most part Cloud was a very stoic and melancholy person who wasn’t very affectionate with others, but Aerith was the sole exception to that. He didn’t really know how to explain in words, but something about Aerith just made him feel...lighter?

Whatever it was, it made him happy and who doesn’t like being happy.

“Hello to you too darling.” She replied. After Cloud put her down she got ready to tell him the news, but somehow the words got caught in her throat. This always happened when she was nervous about anything. It was just something in her brian that made her mouth stop working. She decided to tell him a bit later when she finally got over her nerves.

“I’m sorry about being so late, I just lost-”

\- track of time?” Aerith finished. They both laughed at that.

“It's fine Cloud, just tell me about the job.” Aerith asked curiously. She loved hearing about Cloud’s adventures. She also wished she could go on her own adventure to other worlds, but unfortunately her family refused to let her do any such thing. For now she would just have to live vicariously through her boyfriend.

The two 19 year olds started making their way down the street. Cloud happily told Aerith of a world that had animals that acted like people and even walked on two legs. He told Aerith about how he originally went for a simple delivery job, just as usual, but found himself helping a weird fox steal from a corrupt king.

“Then the King made the probably the worst joke I’ve ever heard.” Cloud finished.

“It sounds like you had a lovely time.” Aerith asked and a cheeky smile on her lips.

“Lovely… but really weird.”

The two continued walking for about another hour while telling each other about what happened while they were apart. Cloud told Aerith more details about his trip, while she told him about her new job at the local florist.

Eventually Cloud stopped.

“Anna, is everything ok?” he asked with a worried look on his face.

Aerith felt her blood go cold. What does she say? She didn’t know how to say it.

Would he be happy? 

Would he be annoyed?

Upset?

Angery? 

She didn’t know and it terrified her.

She looked Cloud in the eyes and saw the worried look he was giving her. She suddenly realised that it was Cloud. The wonderful man who loved her to death and would do anything just to make sure she was safe and happy. She had a sudden burst of courage.

“I’m pregnant.”

Cloud was taken by surprise by her sudden answer and then was able to process it.

“oh..OH...OH OK!, THAT’S NEAT”

Aerith busted out laughing.

“Oh my goodness, that’s your reaction to me telling I’m pregnant!?”

“Well I.. I mean..ummm” Cloud started wordless motionning with his hands.

“You're not upset, are you?” Aerith asked with a bit of concern.

“No I’m happy about … it’s…. It's just a lot to take in. I think I need to sit down.”

The two of them made their way over to a nearby bench and sat there silently for about a minute.

After the long awkward silence Cloud finally spoke up.

“Holy crap….. We’re gonna be parents.”

Aerith gasped loudly.

“Don’t use that kind of language around the baby!” She jokingly said while putting her hands around her stomach.

“It’s not like they can hear me! They probably don’t have ears yet! How far along are you by the way?”

“Well, I found out about a week after you left, so around 2 months.” 

“We need a better place to stay than Zack’s couch or your family’s place.” Cloud said with a bit of a disappointed look on his face.

“Do you have any ideas?” he asked Aerith.

“I was talking with Elmyra and she offered me an old beach house that she used to live in with her wife when they were young.”

“What’s the catch?”

“They haven’t been maintaining it. It's gonna be a real fixer upper.”

“Is that all? We can fix up a house easily.”

“Absolulaty, it’s much better than nothing and I’m sure it won’t be that hard.”

\-----------------——— Time Skip----------------- 

“Oh my gosh, this is so hard.” Aerith said while trying to reach a paint brush. She was currently sitting on the floor of the uncompleted living room of their new home.

“HEY, What did I say about moving?! You shouldn't be up and about like that while you're this pregnant!” Cloud yelled in worried tone. Aerith knew he was right, but sitting around and leaving all the work for him and the others felt rude.

“I can still help!” Aerith yelled back.

“You can barely get out of bed in the morning! It’s a miracle that you made it this far into the house!”

“Well, to be fair, I had trouble getting out of bed when I wasn’t pregnant.” Aerith said with a cheeky look on her face.

Cloud gave her a deadpan look.

“You're hilarious.”

“I’m glad you think so. Come on Love! Let me help! I don’t like sitting around doing nothing.” Aerith gave Cloud a puppy eyed look.

“You can come up with names.” He said while helping Aerith in a nearby chair.

“That’s not work!”

“Come on, it will be fun. You can list them off to me.” Cloud said happily while grabbing the paint brush to finish Aerith's earlier work. 

“Ok fine…. What about Minnie? If it’s a girl”

“Maybe.”

“Oh wait maybe Vanity, that’s a nice name”

“That’s not really a name Love.”

“It could be if we named our baby that.”

Cloud looked at her for a second while trying to come up with a counter argument. He couldn’t come up with anything.

“You got me there.”

“But then again… Vanity does mean vain, I don’t want to give her the wrong idea.” Aerith said while tapping her chin.

“Right.. Makes sense.” Cloud said with the deadpan tone he often uses when he doesn’t know how to react to his girlfriend’s line of thinking.

“What about Kathryn?”

“I dated a Kathryn once, and it didn't end well.”

“Oh right, how did I forget about that?”

“Because you have more important things to think about than Kathryn.” Cloud said the last word with a surprising amount of venom in his voice.

“OH what about-” She paused for dramatic effect.

“Vanitas”

Cloud looked at her.

“For a girl?”

“It could be for a boy and girl.” she said in a sweet voice. Cloud could tell she was really happy about that name. Cloud moved away from his painting job to sit with Aerith at the chair.

“I think it sounds good.”

“I think it sounds amazing, Vanitas Gainsborough Strife.” Aerith said happily.

“It is truly a name that will strike fear into millions.”

“YEAHHH” Aerith replied with a starry eyed look on her face.

The two of them smiled at each other. Cloud moved to kiss Aerith only to be interrupted by a loud voice coming from the doorway.

“HELLOOOO”

“Oh boy, I don’t know if I’m up for this today.” Cloud said.

“Don’t be a baby.” Aerith said while she jokingly hit him on the shoulder.

Cloud’s older brother processed to poke his head into the room. Zack had been helping with the fixing up the place, but he had a bad habit of turning up unannounced, which annoyed Cloud to no end. But he was still helping Cloud and Aerith out of the goodness of his heart, so Cloud couldn’t complain too much.

“Hello Zack, how have you been doing?” Aerith said with her usual cheery voice.

“Oh I’m doing just fine Anna. But more importantly how are you doing?” He asked in a tone of voice that always annoyed Cloud.

“Fine for the most part, but I’m a bit annoyed that I can’t do any work on the house.”

The two of them continued to talk while Cloud worked on painting. Eventually Cloud got sick of listening to his brother rambering. 

“You know, when you come over to help with the house, you could actually HELP.” Cloud said without taking his eyes off his current job.

“Cloud has a point, you know.” Aerith said calmly.

Zack let out an exaggerated sigh.

“Yeah all right, what do you need me to do?”

With Zack’s help the job got done much quicker. Then they finally finished, the three of them moved to the kitchen.

“Has your family contacted you yet?” Zack asked Aerith.

“Other than sending ‘You’re making a huge mistake’ letters, no.” Aerith replied sadly. When it came to Aerith’s relationship with her family it had gone down hill pretty quickly. The only member of her family that she could still have a friendly conversation with was her adoptive mother Elmyra.

The three of them sat there in awkward silence until Aerith spoke up again.

“It doesn’t really matter that much to me. As long as I have Cloud and Vanitas I’ll have everything I need.”

Cloud leaned down to kiss the side of Aerith’s head, while Zack gave her a confused look.

“Vanitas?” 

“That’s the name we chose for the baby.” Cloud replied in a ‘say anything and you’re dead’ tone.

“Oh ok, that’s…. nice.”

Three continued to talk for another couple of hours. Zack eventually made his way out of the house claiming that he had a ‘hot date’.

Aerith and Cloud eventually found themselves lying comfortably in bed and discussing the day's events.

“You know Zack means well.”

“I know, but his attitude gets on my nerves.” 

Aerith knew Cloud really did love his brother, but Zack’s behaviour had a way of getting under Cloud’s skin. The two of them grew up together and only had each other. At the end of the day no matter how much one annoyed the other, Aerith believed they could work past it.

As the two of them drifted into sleep they thought about their future and everything they had to look forward to.

\-----------------——— Time Skip----------------- 

A few weeks later the house was almost done. The only things left to do were general wiping and sweeping, and the attic floors. Cloud stopped what he was doing when he heard an unholy sheik come from the attic he looked up to see a leg that had fallen through the roof.

Yuffie

Cloud thought to himself. He made his way up to the attic too see Aerith trying to help Yuffie by pulling her out of the hole she made in the roof while Leon stood shaking his head in disappointment before making his way over to help.

After getting Yuffie out and making a temporary fix for the hole the group decided to break for lunch. 

Yuffie and Leon had been a huge help throughout the pregnancy. With Leon helping with the restoration of the house and Yuffie bringing shopping when Cloud was forced to go out for a job and Aerith could barely move around the house.

Cloud had found himself thanking his lucky stars a lot lately. While they did drive him crazy from time to time, not everyone had friends who were as amazing as Leon and Yuffie. It was good to have a network of friends who could be around when Aerith was having a ‘pegos moment’.

“They're really kicking up a storm in there!” Yuffie exclaimed after taking her hand off Aerith's belly.

“Trust me, I’ve noticed.” Aerith laughed.

“How far along are you again?” Leon asked.

“The doctor said that they’ll be born in about two months. But I don't know, Vanitas seems to be really jumpy right now.”

“He keeps saying it’s fine, but I don’t really trust the guy. He seems like a bit of a mad man.” Cloud told Leon.

“Elmyra keeps insisting that he’s a great doctor. Apparently he worked with my father.” Aerith said in defence.

“Doesn’t change the fact that he’s a wacko.”

Aerith was about to respond before her expression changed.

“I think I need a doctor.”


	2. New Discoveries

Vanitas Zack Gainsborough Strife came into the world, two months earlier than expected. Everyone originally thought it was the usual pregnancy cramps, but that changed rather quickly. After the initial shock of Aerith going into labour, it had only gotten worse. It had been three days of sitting around and waiting for good news. It was somehow the fastest set of events in Cloud's life. Yet, the slowest thing he had ever experienced, and he can’t imagine it was much better for Aerith. It was a nightmare. All the waiting and hoping. 

Luckily, Vanitas was eventually cleared to go home. Still, the doctor had Aerith and Cloud set up appointments in order to check on Vanitas’ health. The thing was, it didn’t get much better when they got home. Both of them were terrified to take their eyes off Vanitas. It felt like if they did something horrible would happen. Cloud was pretty sure he hadn’t slept for at least three days.

It had gotten to the point where Leon had decided to take matters into his own hands.

“You're taking a shower NOW,” Leon yelled while dragging Cloud by his legs. 

“You’re not my dad! Besides I don’t smell that much!” 

“You smell like BO and throw up.” Yuffie replied while balancing a giggling Vanitas in her lap.

This was the second time Leon had to force Cloud to take a break from his dad duties. While Aerith was just as paranoid as her boyfriend when it came to Vanitas’ health, it had been easier to convince her that she still needed to take a break every once in a while for her own health.

Leon had finally managed to convince the two of them to take some time for themselves. Leon knew that they needed to change their current schedule, or they would burn out very quickly. 

“Aerith, are you done yet? If we have to spend one more minute with Cloud’s stink, we’re gonna pass out!” Leon yelled in the direction of the bathroom.

“I’m almost done.” 

“I don’t smell that much,” Cloud muttered like a small child.

“Yes, you do.” Leon and Yuffie responded.

Aerith made her way out of the bathroom looking refreshed. Leon quickly dragged Cloud to the door and pushed him in. Aerith giggled at how comedic it looked.

“Ok that we’re got him out of the way-” Leon said as he pulled out a piece of paper. “These are your new rules. A couple of days a week the two of you are going to let Yuffie and I worry about Vanitas while the two of you go out and relax.” Leon passed it to Aerith. The writing was surprisingly neat for Leon.

“What are we supposed to do?” Aerith asked.

“Go have dinner. Go to the movies. Rob a bank.” Yuffie said with a wink.

“Just stay out of the house and relax.” Leon finished in a tone of voice that reminded her of a dad.

The three of them continued to chat while waiting for Cloud to finish in the bathroom. When he was finally done he and Aerith made their way out of the house. For a split second, Aerith looked back to see Vanitas giving her puppy-eyed look. It almost made her turn around, but then she saw the look Leon was giving her, and she decided against it.

As the two of them disappeared into the distance, Leon and Yuffie made their way back into the house. 

“So Squall, what are we gonna do with this one?” Yuffie asked, looking down at the baby. Vanitas gave her a look. It was also as if he was trying to say ‘you're not mum, so I don’t like you’.

“Let’s just get him washed, fed, and to bed, ok?” Leon said.

“Doesn’t sound too hard.” This is a statement that was always said before a disaster. In Yuffie’s case, she would end up curled up into a ball on the floor of Aerith and Cloud’s’ bedroom.

“Demon baby, he can’t be trusted!” Yuffie yelled while Leon was desperately trying to grab Vanitas from under the bed.

“Stop being a drama queen and HELP ME!” Leon yelled before something hit his hand.

This continued for another two hours. It seemed like Vanitas was hellbent on making Leon and Yuffie want to leave his house and never come back. But Leon refused to be beaten by a baby of all things. They eventually managed to trier Vanitas out enough to get him to bed with about 10 mins before Cloud and Aerith got home.

Aerith and Cloud walked in to see Yuffie passed out on their bed and Leon leading against the wall. The two of them gave each other a look, and then Cloud went over to check on the baby while Aerith went over to check on Leon.

“Heeeey buddy. You doing ok.” Aerith asked, causing Leon to wake up suddenly.

“I’m alive!” Leon said while looking around the room.

“I’m guessing you had a fun time,” Aerith asked with a cheeky smile on her face. 

“I’m never letting you be alone with that child again.” Leon said while holding Aerith’s hands.

Aerith was taken aback for a second.

“Oh neat.”

Leon told Aerith about the events of the night before. How Vanitas had messed with them for most of the night and wouldn’t go to sleep no matter what they did.

“I’m sorry that Vani was so much trouble for the two of you. We’ll figure something else out when we need to go out.”

“No, I don’t know about Yuffie’s opinion, but I’m not going to just leave you alone with him 24/7.” Leon said

“So, you still wanna babysit for us occasionally?”

“You guys are my best friends. I wanna help the two of you in any way I can.”

Aerith looked at Leon in shock. She had never been this open and honest before. He usually didn’t give input or opinions when it comes to things like this. He must have been more tired than she thought.

“If that’s what you truly want Leon, then we’re more than happy to have you here.” Aerith said as she took Leon’s hand. The two of them gave each other bright smiles.

\-----------------——— Time Skip-----------------------------

Cloud was having a hard time processing that it had been a whole year since Vanitas was born. It had gone by so quickly. It definitely hadn’t been easy. There had been a lot of hiccups, especially when it came to Vanitus’ health. However, nevertheless, he was still making significant progress. He was up and walking, along with speaking.

“Come here Baba.” Aerith said as Cloud helped Vanitas to stand up on his own.

Vanitas slowly made his way over before falling into Aerith’s lap.”

“Good job Sweetie!” Aerith said.

“MA!” Vanitas yelled back at her.

Aerith picked Vanitas up in order to clean him up for lunch. Many people had asked Aerith and Cloud if they were going to have a birthday for Vanitas. They answer honestly saying that they just weren’t party people. Cloud didn’t like being around people outside of his small social circle, and Aerith always found that something would go horribly wrong when she tried to host parties, to the point where she got anxious just thinking about it. It had always been better to just have small lunches with friends instead of big parties.

As a result, they decided to let their close friends and family over for lunch due to them insisting that they wanted to spend the day with the ‘lucky birthday boy’.

“Who was coming to lunch today?” Cloud asked as he went around the room, picking various toys.

“Ummm, Yuffie and Leon, Elmyra. I think Tifa mentioned dropping by.”

“What about Zack?”

“He said that he’s busy with his new job.”

Cloud made a disappointed sound. Zack had started his new ‘job’ a couple of months back. Suddenly he had no time to visit, and only had time to talk on the phone for about a minute at the most. It rubbed Cloud the wrong way. Zack was always the type who made time for the people he cared about the most, and now that he seemed to be avoiding them…. Well, it made Cloud worry.

Hey Cloud?” Aerith said, suddenly forcing Cloud out of his own thoughts.

“Yeah Love?” 

“Try not to worry. Zack can take care of himself.” 

“I know.”

The little family continued to get ready for lunch. Their friends all eventually made their way into the house with food and gifts. It was nice. Spending time with all their loved ones like this. The adults talked and joked with each other while Vanitas nibbled on the head of a toy bear.

Cloud looked over to Vanitas at some point who crawled across the floor towards a terrified Yuffie. It made Cloud think back to his own childhood. He couldn’t think of a single moment where he felt this safe and content. He hoped that he could give Vanitas that kind of feeling when he got older.

“Hey tough guy. How’s it going?” Aerith said suddenly.

“Just thinking about the future.”

Aerith smiled up at him and leaned against his shoulder. The two of them continued to watch their growing child mess with their friends.

\-----------------——— Time Skip-----------------------------  
“I wanna go home.” Cloud thought to himself.

When Aerith had gotten sick with the flu, Cloud had stupidly agreed to take Vanitas with him to work. He didn’t think it was gonna be a big deal at the time, but after being chased by a group of heartless for two hours straight, he had had enough and just wanted to get Vanitas home.

Cloud rounded the corner to find a Gummi Ship Portal and quickly started making his way over to it.

“Just a little further and we’ll be home Vanitas.”

Just as the Cloud reached the portal, one of the monsters leaped at his leg and Cloud was forced to jump for the portal. Luck;y he just made it and found himself at the helm of Cid's pride and joy, The Way to Dawn.

“Bout time you showed up.” Cid said from the captain's chair.

“I would have been a lot quicker if SOMEONE agreed to look after Vanitas while I did the job!” Cloud retorted.

“I fly ships. Not babysit brats. Did you get the canister?”

Cloud pulled the large yellow canister out of his travel bag. The magic bag had been given to him by Aerith for their first anniversary, and it was probably the best gift he had ever gotten. It had him out his fair share of scraps. 

“Yeah yeah, this had better been worth it Cid.”

“The thing has pure energy in it, Cloud. People will pay a pretty penny for something like that.”

Cloud and Cid’s conversation was interrupted when Vanitas started grabbing at Cloud’s hair. Cloud moved to check on the boy after what they had just been through.

“You stayed surprisingly calm during all that buddy, but I think we’ll be waiting a few years before I take you adventuring again.” Cloud joked. He didn’t think it would be a big deal at the time. Cid had lied to him and said that it would be a peaceful in and out job, but then the Heartless showed up and everything went to hell. Cloud was lucky he got his hands on one the canisters at all.

“It will be easy, you said. All the locals will have gone home by now, you said.” Cloud said to Cid

“Why did you bring him anyway?” Cid asked, ignoring Cloud’s comments.

“Aerith is sick. Leon was busy with his new job. Same with Yuffie, and all the babysitters in town refuse to take him.”

“He’s only a year old! How much trouble can he cause?!”

“You’d be surprised.” Cloud said quietly.

The Way to Dawn eventually made its way back to Twilight Town. After sorting out the payments and thanking Cid for the ride home, Cloud made his way to the train station to get back Destiny Islands. Luckey Vanitas had been tired out by the day's events and was soundly sleeping away.

By the time they got home, it was late into the night, and Aerith was sound asleep. Cloud made his way over to Vanitas’ crib and set him down. 

“I’m glad everything worked out today. Love you buddy.” Cloud whispered to his sleeping child then made his way over to Aerith and quickly fell asleep. He would most likely be woken up by Vanitas’ crying in about an hour, in the moment he didn’t really care. That was a problem for future Cloud.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone confused by Cloud catching the train to Destiny Islands, it's because in my universe Twilight Town and Destiny Islands are apart of the same world. Destiny Islands are basically the country areas.
> 
> Next chapter is baby Sora and I'm super excited to write that!


	3. Pregnancy 2: Electric Boogaloo

Cloud and Aerith sat in the office of one of many daycares in Twilight Town. Getting lectured by yet another annoyed teacher about why Vanitas wouldn’t be allowed to attend. This time it had been because Vanitas had tried to stage an escape with three other children during the day. This wasn’t the first time he had done something like this at daycare. Vanitas seemed to be determined to get kicked out of every possible daycare in both Destiny Islands and Twilight Town.

People would try to tell Cloud and Aerith that they needed to raise their child better, but the thing was that’s what they were trying to do. They had wanted to get him to be kinder to adults. They thought they were making progress when he started being more agreeable to Yuffie, but no matter what they did, he hated daycare and every babysitter they hired for him.

Aerith and Cloud said their apologies and picked up Vanitas to take him home.

“Why do you hate daycare sweetie?” Aerith asked Vanitas as they walked to the train station.

“They’re dumb,” he replied.

“That doesn’t mean you’re allowed to be rude to them. They’re just trying to take care of you for us when we’re at work.” Cloud told him.

Vanitas went silent. Which was something that nearly never happened. Aerith looked down at her son and put on a reassuring smile.

“I know it’s hard to be away from home during the day, but Mum and Dad need to go to work, and we can’t just leave you home alone.”

Vanitas continued to stay silent.

“And besides, you need to be a good role model for your new sibling.”

Cloud gave Aerith a shocked look.

“I’m sorry, what?!” Cloud asked.

Aerith gave Cloud a cheeky smile.

“I was going to tell you later on, but no time like the present.”

Cloud went to give Aerith a hug while Vanitas looked at his parents with a confused look on his face.  
The rest of the night was spent explaining to Vanitas how he was going to get a new sibling in a couple of months, and planning for any changes that needed to be made to the house.

\-----------------——— Time Skip-----------------------------

It had been a couple of months since Cloud and Vanitas first found out about the pregnancy, and things had been going reasonably well. With the exception of Vanitas’ usual bad attitude towards adults. Due to having done this once before with Vanitas, Aerith was a bit more prepared for what was to come. On the other hand, she had a whole set of new challenges in the form of an emotional two-year-old who refused to leave her side.

“I’ll be back in just a second Vani, I just need to go to the bathroom.”

“You’ve already gone three times today.”

“Yeah, because Sora keeps dancing on my blatter.”

Vanitas gave her an annoyed look and moved to sit next to the bathroom door. Aerith knew he meant well. He was just excited about his new sibling. Vanitas had always been an inpatient boy and having to wait nine months was definitely going to a challenge on both him and Aerith.

Aerith finished in the bathroom a few minutes later and made her way back to Vanitas. The next couple of hours were spent watching Vanitas try to keep himself entertained without causing too much trouble. She had been watching Vanitas try to draw a picture of his father.

As Aerith watched Vanitas mess around with various crayons, she started to see how much Vanitas resembled herself and Cloud.

At first glance, Vanitas didn’t look much like Aerith or Cloud. He seemed to get all his features from his grandparents and other family. Due to Vanitas still being a small child, he was still growing, and as a result, it was hard to tell exactly who in their family he most resembled.

You could tell that he had basic things like his grandfather’s hair and eyes.

It was just one of these things that one would think about when they don’t have many other things to think about. Aerith just tried to relax (as relaxed one could be when taking care of Vanitas) for the rest of the afternoon while brainstorming Vanitas and they're soon to be sibling futures.

Sora’s birth had been a bit easier on Aerith than Vanitas’ had. Mostly due to how Aerith had done it once before so knew what she was in for the second time.

Sora Tetsuya Gainsborough ended up looking a lot like Aerith. They had her brown hair and the same skin tone. The only thing Sora got from Cloud was his sea-blue eyes. To say that Cloud and Aerith were feeling a bit overconfident was an understatement. They somehow convinced themselves that Sora would act the same as Vanitas.

As it turned out, Sora was a quiet baby. To the point where their parents thought that there may have been something going on with them. In the end, they realised that Vanitas was just a REALLY fussy baby.

\-----------------——— Time Skip-----------------------------

A few months after Sora’s birth, Vanitas started showing signs of magic. It was small and noticeable at first, but after nearly setting his father’s hair on fire, it became pretty obvious.

Let's rewind for a second. While magic could be found throughout each world, in the Destiny Islands it was relatively rare. Aerith and Cloud were both prepared if any of their children turned out to have magic because they both grew up with magic.

“He needs a teacher,” Aerith said.

“We didn’t have teachers,” Cloud said with his arms crossed.

“We didn’t develop any real magic until we were in our teens.”

“You make a good point, but we’re not sending Vanitas to The Land of Departure.”

“Of course not. We’ll find someone local.”

The two of them paused for a second.

“Look at us. Discussing stuff like adults.”

Cloud let out a laugh.

“You make it seem so silly when you say it like that,” Cloud said, and Aerith smiled at him.  
“Well, we’re very silly people.”

That weekend they went out looking for a mage during a festival at Twilight Town. They didn’t have much luck at first. Most of the people they talked to only knew about simple magic tricks and not actual magic. If they knew actual magic, they weren’t interested in teaching.

By two o'clock, Cloud and Aerith were sitting in one of the local parks watching the kids as they messed around the playground.

“Pretty weird how there aren't many actual mages at a magic festival, Huh?” Cloud said.

“Just a little,” Aerith replied. “Let’s just have one more look around.”

After a bit more searching, one of the stall owners recommended someone to them.

“She lives on one of the southern islands. She’s headstrong and a bit stubborn, but she’s been practising magic for years?’ The stall owner gave them the woman’s address and a phone number. They thanked them and headed home.

Aerith ended up giving the woman a call after dinner.

“Rinnng Rinnng.”

“Hello?” a woman answered in a stern tone.

“Hello! Is this Eglantine Price?” Aerith asked.

“Yes, it is.” Miss Price answered. “How can I help you?”

“Well you see, we were in Twilight Town looking for someone to teach our son how to control his magic. Aerith said. “And someone recommended you to us.”

Miss Price didn’t talk for a second but then started asking Aerith questions. Things like how old he was and his family’s background with magic. Nearly thirty minutes passed by, and Miss Price agreed to teach Vanitas.

“I’ll be at your home next Saturday at around three, is that alright?”

“Yes, of course. Thank you so much.” Aerith put down the phone and went to put Sora to bed.

She started humming them a lullaby, and they drifted off to sleep in no time. Aerith was feeling pretty good about how the day had gone. She went over to Vanitas’ room and found that Cloud had already gotten him to sleep. Aerith walked over to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been way too long since I've updated. I've had a lot of stuff going on the last two months and as a result, wasn't feeling up to writing.
> 
> Sorry that this chapter is a bit short, but I know where I want to go with this story now. So hopefully I'll be better with updates.

**Author's Note:**

> Come and scream at me https://thecaillic.tumblr.com/
> 
> A friend and I came up with this idea for a Kingdom Hearts family au months ago and I finally got around to writing it, so yay!
> 
> Keep in mind this story won’t follow the original canon in a lot of ways. It’s just off the idea of ‘what if the kingdom hearts characters were all one big sitcom family.
> 
> Also! I never played final fantasy and am basing these characters off their kh counterparts. If you’re upset that I didn’t get a part of their backstory right, the only thing I can say is ‘their wiki didn’t provide enough info.”


End file.
